1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to the field of medical imaging. It more particularly concerns the processing of data, notably, images used by a practitioner during procedure on a patient.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For the diagnosis and treatment of coronary diseases, the form of the vessels is analyzed. For this purpose, a practitioner guides and deploys a surgical instrument inside the vascular system of a patient while being assisted by a medical imaging system. Said medical imaging system allows the acquisition, processing and real-time visualization of two-dimensional images (2D) representing the patient's vascular system and the surgical instrument. With these images, the practitioner is able to guide the instrument inside the vascular system.
For diagnosis, defects such as stenosis (abnormal narrowing of a blood vessel) must be detected. To do so, the practitioner may either be provided with a radiological image of a region of interest in a patient, into which a contrast product has been injected, or with a radiological image delivered by an intravascular sensor or other data derived from said sensor.
It is advantageous to be provided with such data at the same time, so that the practitioner is able to have a view or detailed information on the inner side of a vessel, but also an overall view to aid in guiding the sensor.
The problem then arises of synchronizing the two types of data items: those delivered by the medical imaging system and those delivered by the intravascular sensor. These different data items effectively derive from two separate imaging systems having different acquisition rates.